Lockheed Confirms Order For 71 F-35s; Lorraine Martin Comments

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) will supply the Pentagon with 71 more F-35 fighter jets under a principle agreement, confirming reports from unnamed sources that came out earlier this week.

The 71 planes represent the Joint Strike Fighter program’s low-rate initial production lots six and seven and will be offered for a lower price, Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday.

The company said that LRIP-6 costs about four percent lower than LRIP-5. The LRIP-7 contract will cost eight percent lower than LRIP-5.

Under the contract, Lockheed will begin delivery of the 36 F-35s in LRIP-6 by mid-2014 and the remaining 35 aircrafts in LRIP-7 by mid-2015.

The LRIP-6 and LRIP-7 F-35s will be delivered to the U.S. and partner nations Australia, Norway, United Kingdom and Italy.

“At the start of these negotiations, the F-35 Joint Program Office and our F-35 team jointly committed to conduct LRIP-6 and -7 negotiations in an efficient manner that leveraged all we achieved from the LRIP-5 contract,” said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed Martin F-35 vice president and general manager.

Since the program’s inception, Lockheed Martin has delivered 67 F-35s to the Defense Department and eight partner nations.

About GovConWire

Government Contracting News Wire – GovConWire – provides up-to-the-minute coverage of news that affects the government contracting community. Published by Executive Mosaic , we strive to provide coverage of the corporations and executives that serve this nation through the products they build, the visions they share, the jobs they create and the improvements they bring to the lives of Americans.